Jaws' Story-Updated Dec 12/07--Follow-Up Pic (page 12)

Message

#76 Post by **Marzipan** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:45 am

I admire your boldness in using holiday colors for the ligatures - they look great. On Tuesday I'll get the regular brackets installed and the archwire. At first I suspect I'll go only for the silver ligs to match the metal braces. But later on in treatment I want to try purple and pink and then maybe even wilder colors.

#77 Post by **Clo** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:47 am

Hi Jaws,

Has your ortho talked about how she plans to correct the molar flaring that you got from your TPA ?

Nah ... are you sure you wanna know how she did it for me ? Well ok
then, there are some pics of my teeth in this thread :

viewtopic.php?t=7394

As a secondary result of having all those elastics, there was a force that
corrected the flaring out of my (pre)molars. That went well for my uppers.
But now I have the opposite issue on my lowers, they are slanting inwards
too much ... But I have bigger issues right now, as a bite that won't
close for example ... I was joking when I wondered if you really wanted
to know, as I really hope you won't need to wear such nasty elastics
configuration yourself ... Mind you, it is indeed possible to correct this
by adjusting the archwire itself. I think by torquing (eh, hope I have this
right, I mean rotating the wire around its length axis) the rectangular wire.
Anyway, best of luck !
I'll be watching your 'un-flaring process' ...

#78 Post by **HollyDontSpend** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:48 pm

Holy Christmas ligs! Your teeth look great Jaws!!! I really like those ligs too.

Your teeth are really moving along. Hope everything continues to go well for you!

#79 Post by **jaws** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 6:49 pm

Wow Clo--that is a crazy elastic configuration! I will definitely keep you up to date on my 'un-flaring' process. I always tend to doubt my ortho's ability to do things, and then a few months later I end up seeing results! So, right now I am in a 'doubting' period, where I feel like my upper teeth are never going to 'unflare'...but we will see what happens!

And thanks HollyDontSpend for the comments on my ligs! It's nice to see that you still frequent this site even though you don't have braces anymore! I hope my teeth end up looking as nice as yours!

#80 Post by **jaws** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 7:14 am

JANUARY 5TH 2006

Hi Everyone,

I had my 9th adjustment done yesterday, and since school hasn't started for me yet, I have time to post right afterwards! The adjustment itself wasn't overly eventful, but I received some interesting news!

First of all, they are still trying to correct the flaring of my upper molars on one side. The ortho adjusted my lingual arch some more to try and torque those teeth inwards (if you look at the pics you will see that my upper lingual arch is further away from my teeth on one side than the other. By being further away from my teeth, I think it is supposed to pull those teeth inward and un-flare them). Then the assistant changed my ligs and I was done!

However, I asked the assistant what comes after they have un-flared those molars, and she said that I would basically be done! She said that it could take a few months to do these finishing touches, but that I could potentially be done the braces by April or May! That would be 5 or 6 months ahead of the initial time estimate (they originally told me a year and a half, and getting them off in April would be exactly one year). So, I'm not going to hold my breath, because anything can happen, but it's still exciting to think that I could be done earlier than expected!

They also told me that my next adjustment will be fairly involved. They are going to grind the molar putty off of my 2nd last molars, and put it back onto my very back molars. Then they are going to have me wear elastics from my bottom 2nd last molars to my top 2nd last molars (straight up and down) in order to pull my bottom 2nd last molars upwards and fix my deep bite. By doing this, my 2nd last molars on the bottom will be higher up than before, so my mouth won't close as deeply. Hopefully that makes sense! Also at my next adjustment they want to put some kind of 'kink' in my upper wire on one side to help un-flare the molars.

I'm excited for my next adjustment to see what happens!

Here are some pics:

TOP (I don't think that my top molars have un-flared very much since my last adjustment, so hopefully they will start moving along soon!):

BOTTOM:

New Turquoise Ligs!

#81 Post by **caryca** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 10:29 am

Jaws that's a great news!!! super!:-)

I start to think whether it would be possible for me to finish a bit earlier as well...oh well I guess I have to keep my self on the wave and see what will come...

BTW a nice colours

#82 Post by **hannah164** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 6:57 pm

Jaws your smile is looking beautiful! Congratulations!

Sounds like your in for one heck of an appt. there! Good luck with that!

Just curious, but what does it mean that your molars are flared? I'm quite confused.

I really like your ligs! I wish my ortho had that color!

-Hannah

Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Next Adjustment 1/11/06

#83 Post by **jaws** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 5:38 pm

Thanks everyone for the comments!

hannah164--by my molars being flared outwards I mean that instead of my teeth being shaped like a nice, symmetrical arch, my molars on one side are tipped outwards. So, when I bite down, most of my teeth line up, but on that one side my upper molars tilt out slightly, so they don't meet up with my bottom ones. Hopefully that makes sense!

I'm glad that you like my colours! My boyfriend says that from far away it looks like I ate a blue candy and stained my teeth

#84 Post by **JN_Woods** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 6:06 pm

Jaws,

Your teeth look beautiful! I can't wait until my teeth straighten up, too. I love your turqoise ligs! My ortho doesn't have that color either. Good luck at your next adjustment!

Jen

#85 Post by **Marzipan** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:05 pm

I really love those turquoise ligs!

#86 Post by **weird_wired** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:09 am

Yes those ligs really are superb.

#87 Post by **jaws** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:26 pm

FEBRUARY 7TH 2006

Well, I went for my 10th adjustment last week, and it was quite eventful! Here is what happened:

1) They changed my ligs (as usual)

2) The ortho put two 'steps'/bends in my lower wire in order to make two of my teeth 'move upwards', so that my bite fits better.

3) They shaved off my red molar putty on my second last molars! So, I finally don't have any molar putty for the first time in 10 months! I would say it feels great, but my back molars don't really touch each other properly yet, but when they do, I know it will be wonderful!

4) They gave me elastics to wear from my top second last molar to my bottom second last molar (straight up and down). Most people on this site seem to have their elastics in various triangle configurations, but mine simply go up and down. My ortho told me that he is trying to get my second last molars to move upwards, so that all of my molars touch properly. Right now, my second last molars don't touch at all because my bottom molars are too low. The first few days that I wore the elastics were pretty rough--I was in so much pain! I hadn't been in that much pain since I first got braces, which was pretty intense. However, the pain has gotten better now (around 6 days later). My teeth are still sore, but not as bad as before!

Also, the hygenist said that she thinks I might be able to get my braces off by the spring! She was saying that I could possibly get them off by May, which would be amazing since my original estimate was for October. I'm not going to hold my breath, but I will keep my fingers crossed!

The hygenist also showed me a bunch of pictures from when I first came to the ortho compared to now, and the change is pretty amazing! She even printed the pictures out for me which was cool--maybe I will scan them and upload them at some point!

Here are some pictures:

TOP: (my top molars seem to have 'unflared' a bit, which my ortho has been trying to do for awhile)

BOTTOM:

My Elastics (this is the best picture that I could take!):

One of the 'Steps' in my Wire (circled in red):

My New Purple Ligs:

I won't be able to see the ortho again for 5 weeks (instead of my usual 4) because I'm going on a trip, but I will keep everyone posted.

#88 Post by **jennandtonic** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:29 pm

Wow! Seeing your progress gives me hope! Your teeth have changed A LOT, and that must be so exciting for you.

#89 Post by **hannah164** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:40 pm

WOW Jaws! THat's some frickin' awesome progress there! Your smile is looking absolutely gorgeous! Love the ligs! Congratulations!

I'm jealous!

My smile is only starting to straighten out and start cooperating after 22 months!

I guess, better late than never!

Keep up the great progress!

-Hannah

Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Last Adjustment was 2/1/06 where they bonded a bracket to my cuspid, which was impacted!!!! OUCH!

#90 Post by **Granola** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:46 pm

What great progress! You must be so happy to know you are nearing the end of your treatment. Your teeth look great.

I know I've seen this question posted, but can't remember where. Do you happen to know why your ortho did not include your back molars? I just had my upper brace put on, and they did not include the back ones. The assistant said they will go on later, but I didn't get a chance to ask the ortho about why.